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I have to agree it really isn't the LL responsibility for pests if the SFH is occupied and gets pests. But if there are pests before someone moves in and/or they notify the LL in a timely manner then they should remove the pests.
We rented a trailer once that was completely infested with roaches. We didn't know until the middle of the night the very first night. I got up to get the baby a bottle and they were covering every square inch of the kitchen. ICK. The LL was a slumlord and tried to say we brought them. We moved out right away. We found a house down the street and I tried washing EVERYTHING before moving them into the house but within days I saw baby roaches. I called an exterminator. I certainly wasn't going to blame it on the new LL.
I can agree with everything except #4. In an apartment complex, the owner has that ability, but on a house, they can't pick the neighbors. They have no control over whether the neighbors are courteous or not, and no power to deal with complaints. If you have an HOA and it is a serious enough problem, that is one of the things the HOA is for. If it is very serious, that is what the police are for.
I can accept that. I was thinking more about in apartment complexes, where the landlord does have control over who lives there and enforces the leases of all tenants. If a lease says that all tenants are expected to follow guidelines (noise, animals, whatever), then the landlord should enforce that agreement.
What happens if you are an excellent tenant who follows all those 5 rules plus and your landlord is a b****? Our fence has fallen down into the neighbors yard, allowing their dog and ours to go between yards, neighbor not overly happy but knows that our landlord is the one at fault, since it has been falling down for years. Our front spicket sprung a leak into the basement and flooded part of my sons room. We pulled the carpet back, pad was ruined and she came and cut a hole in the ceiling. That was three months ago. Three of our 30 year old windows fall out of the sashes when you open them, we have to hold them up or shim them to stay closed. Our dishwasher leaks all over the floor and because of an improperly installed gutter when it rains it floods the inside front of the garage which made us move our things. To make a long story short, after hanging up on my husband after he commented on why she has canceled due to 70 degree weather not being nice enough to fix things ( 4 days of excuses) she shows up at 4pm yesterday unannounced without any notice to fix the spicket.
Husband came home and went to discuss the other need repairs and she told him to F off. He told her to leave the home to which she then called the cops!!!! They showed up talked to her, came to us, got our story shuck their heads and said that she didn't need to call that they had better things to do and they were sorry we went through that. She went on to fix the spicket, she didn't talk to us and left at 7pm.
She wont talk to us about any repairs. I am completely astounded by her behavior, we are great tenants and have never had any problems with landlords. BTW all this happened in front of my daughter, I had to spend the night telling her her dad was not going to be arrested. Sorry for the wall of text. I needed to vent.
Document all of this in writing to her with a demand for repairs.
Get a copy of the ploice report.
If moving is an option, move.
We have a copy of the report. We have been documenting things. We want to move since we can no longer have any type of constructive communication. We have lived here four months and she still wont send the water bill ( In colorado they keep it in the landlords name unless she asks for us to get it) the water company wont give me any info. I wont be surprised if we get shut off at some point. We want to move, but would have to break the lease. She told us two months ago that she was behind in payments on the house, so I dont know if she would take us to court or not.
We have a copy of the report. We have been documenting things. We want to move since we can no longer have any type of constructive communication. We have lived here four months and she still wont send the water bill ( In colorado they keep it in the landlords name unless she asks for us to get it) the water company wont give me any info. I wont be surprised if we get shut off at some point. We want to move, but would have to break the lease. She told us two months ago that she was behind in payments on the house, so I dont know if she would take us to court or not.
You should expect that she will file a court claim. But it sounds like you have a good chance of winning, particularly if you can show that she is so hostile that she wont make repairs, refused to communicate and calls the police when you attempt to do so. To the extent that you can show that the disrepair impacts habitability and safety ( and with windows that do not close, it sounds like it might), that will help your claim or defense. Take date stamped photos, if you can of all of the offending areas.
You should expect that she will file a court claim. But it sounds like you have a good chance of winning, particularly if you can show that she is so hostile that she wont make repairs, refused to communicate and calls the police when you attempt to do so. To the extent that you can show that the disrepair impacts habitability and safety ( and with windows that do not close, it sounds like it might), that will help your claim or defense. Take date stamped photos, if you can of all of the offending areas.
I have been taking photos with the date stamped. There are also several windows with no ability to lock, which can be scary when we are not home and my daughter is by herself, she is 13 but still bothers me.
I am down to one tenant ; a good one. He does take care of the property, keeps it clean, vermin free, and pays the rent on time (most of the time).
So I work with him like this month when he called on the 1st to say he would be late. Then had it on the day he said he would. I treat him with respect, fix anything that needs to be fixed and accept that it is his home.
And now at our end of landlord phase, he actually wants to buy the property. Its a win win situation for us all.
So after doing this for 8 years, we had one tenant that was a good one. There are good tenants out there.
I was always a good tenant. Always paid on time, never bothered the neighbors, didn't break anything, and always left the place cleaner than I found it.
We have a copy of the report. We have been documenting things. We want to move since we can no longer have any type of constructive communication. We have lived here four months and she still wont send the water bill ( In colorado they keep it in the landlords name unless she asks for us to get it) the water company wont give me any info. I wont be surprised if we get shut off at some point. We want to move, but would have to break the lease. She told us two months ago that she was behind in payments on the house, so I dont know if she would take us to court or not.
Are you familiar with your state's landlord tenant laws? If not, google "(your state) landlord tenant laws" and read on. There are numerous remedies available to you which generally include first documenting your complaints to the landlord in writing via certified return receipt letter as they occur. Your LL has a certain amount of time by law to address maintenance issues and if you do the google as suggested you'll better understand what your state law decrees.
Venting on a forum is one thing but accomplishes nothing. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and your LL right now has the upper hand because you've not appraised yourself of the landlord tenant laws applicable to your state - information which is right at your fingertips and doesn't require a MENSA IQ to figure out.
Apologies if necessary for my terseness of response but the preponderancy of similar complaints on forums such as these really does become a bit irking when both some tenants and some landlords haven't a clue as to their respective legal obligations where their lease agreements and/or state laws are concerned.
Are you familiar with your state's landlord tenant laws? If not, google "(your state) landlord tenant laws" and read on. There are numerous remedies available to you which generally include first documenting your complaints to the landlord in writing via certified return receipt letter as they occur. Your LL has a certain amount of time by law to address maintenance issues and if you do the google as suggested you'll better understand what your state law decrees.
Venting on a forum is one thing but accomplishes nothing. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and your LL right now has the upper hand because you've not appraised yourself of the landlord tenant laws applicable to your state - information which is right at your fingertips and doesn't require a MENSA IQ to figure out.
Apologies if necessary for my terseness of response but the preponderancy of similar complaints on forums such as these really does become a bit irking when both some tenants and some landlords haven't a clue as to their respective legal obligations where their lease agreements and/or state laws are concerned.
Do the google and learn. Good luck!
I have been sending the letters by certified mail, and when no response we call and leave messages. The she will call us a few days later and leave a message saying she is coming, then call again saying she cant. Been going on for months. The only issue I have is as far as what our state deems, needed repairs. For us, we rented a home with a fence, now it has fallen down allowing neighbors dogs to come in and so forth. The windows, those really bother me, leaking dishwasher, coming over without notice, smells and such in basement from the flooding. Colorado laws seem a little vague on these points, but I will keep investigating.
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I was thinking more about in apartment complexes, where the landlord does have control over who lives there and enforces the leases of all tenants. If a lease says that all tenants are expected to follow guidelines (noise, animals, whatever), then the landlord should enforce that agreement.
